A last minute trip, planned on Saturday started on Wednesday. Louise and I flew to Naples at the beginning of September. The webmaster decided not to accompany us. He stayed at home with his dogs.
Louise was more interested in the fashion, shopping and sun bathing although by September it was already starting to get a bit cool, which thankfully helped me keep the sun worshiping to a minimum although visiting the cultural and historic highlights was somewhat stressful. She trudged around and her eyes were open but the only clue she could see was the fact she didn't collide with anything. She moaned all day at Pompeii and was uncooperative the day we hired the bicycles. She enjoyed our visit to the Catacombs but that, it turned out was because she fancied the guide.
Louise and I spent a week in Santorini during August 2013. By chance we timed it to coincide with the annual festival during which an impressive firework display is used to simulate an eruption of the Nea Kameni volcano.
We watched the display at close quarters from the deck of a boat. It was one of the highlights of the trip. Another the Volcano Adventure tour we took that included both a guided walking tour up the Nea Kameni volcano with a very knowledgable and informative guide and a chance to swim in the thermal waters of Old Kameni.
Our first full day in the Naples region. We decided to catch the train back into Naples and explore the city. Superficially we were in agreement but while I had images of cityscapes and places of historic and cultural interest in mind, to Louise Naples conjured up pictures of shops and Italian fashion. We could compromise on street markets, so after first buying a map we were straight out of the station and into the nearest street market.
"No there won't be any shops," I say, exasperated, "but you're coming anyway. I didn't pay for you to come to Naples just to do shopping. While we are so close we should go an see the ruins at Pompeii. They're well known and spectacular. One day you'll be pleased we went."
Teenagers! It was a tedious trip and a reluctant, sulky teenager didn't improve matters. We set of on what was becoming the familiar journey via the Cumana Line from Lucrino, via Mostra where we changed to the Line 2 into Napoli Central. From their we took the line South to Sorrento. It seemed to take forever, but eventually just before midday we arrived. It was hot and I was pleased we hadn't come in the height of Summer.
Read more: A day in old Pompeii with a bored teenage daughter